1968 Topps #473 Al Worthington
About Al Worthington
1968 Topps #473 is the last of his seven cards in Topps' 1960s run. At 39 he led the American League with 18 saves, and he did it on a lighter load than either year before, appearing in 54 games and finishing 34 while going 4-5 with a 2.71 ERA over 76 1/3 innings. He retired after the season, then came back for one final summer in 1969 after Billy Martin had a sportswriter phone him in May; 46 games, a 4-1 record and a 4.57 ERA closed out his time in the majors. Card #473 falls in the sixth print series.
Al Worthington was born February 5, 1929, in Birmingham, Alabama, the seventh of ten children; two older brothers played minor-league ball. He pitched at the University of Alabama, signed with Nashville in 1951 for $1,500, and reached the New York Giants in July 1953, opening his career with back-to-back shutouts. Over 14 seasons he pitched for the Giants, Red Sox, White Sox, Reds and Twins, going 75-82 with a 3.39 ERA and 110 saves in 602 games. He was on the roster for the Giants' 1954 World Series sweep but never got into it. A sinkerballer who added a slider and curve, he became a born-again Christian at a 1958 Billy Graham crusade in San Francisco; in 1959 he confronted Giants manager Bill Rigney about a man stealing signs from the grandstand with binoculars, and in September 1960 he left the White Sox outright rather than pitch for a club that was doing the same. His best years came as Minnesota's closer, including the 1965 pennant winners. He coached Twins pitchers in 1972 and 1973, then built Liberty University's baseball program from scratch across thirteen seasons. He is in the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, not the National Baseball Hall of Fame. He died June 18, 2026, at 97.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · Baseball Almanac
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 318 | 23 | 116 | 134 | 32 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| SGC | 18 | 0 | 10 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Data as of 2026-09-04. Half grades fold down for both graders (8.5→8); PSA qualified slabs (OC, ST, PD, MC and the like) are not counted. Slabs of the yellow team-letter #49 and #66 are 1968 Milton Bradley game cards and are not counted here.
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Related cards
Team card: #137 Minnesota Twins
More Minnesota Twins cards:
- #4 American League 1967 RBI Leaders
- #6 American League 1967 Home Run Leaders
- #10 American League 1967 Pitching Leaders
- #12 American League 1967 Strikeout Leaders
- #28 Ted Uhlaender
- #44 Frank Kostro
- #64 Jim Merritt
- #80 Rod Carew
- #91 Jim Ollom
- #111 Rich Reese
- #165 Tony Oliva
- #181 Jerry Zimmerman
- #206 Cal Ermer
- #220 Harmon Killebrew
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1968 Topps #473 card?
It is card #473 of the 598-card 1968 Topps Baseball set, picturing Al Worthington of the Minnesota Twins.
Is 1968 Topps #473 a scarce card?
It is from the sixth print series (cards 458-533). Together with series 7 it forms the #458-598 block that hobby sources price at a modest premium; several catalogs call these cards high numbers outright.
How many cards are in the 1968 Topps Baseball set?
598 cards, tracked as 606 collectible states. The numbers run from 1 to 598 without a gap and no printed number carries two different cards; eight cards - six of the seven checklists, #10 AL Pitching Leaders and #400 Mike McCormick - carry a catalogued print variation that the master set counts separately.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, Cardboard Connection, BaseballCardPedia, Baseball Almanac, Beckett, Baseball-Reference, the SABR BioProject and the National Baseball Hall of Fame, PSA & SGC population reports. Card data compiled and maintained by T206Cards.com. Page last updated 2026-10-12.